Is Your Full Figure an Increased Risk for Diabetes?

February 21, 2008|30,143views

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A new study suggest that women who have smaller breasts in their late teens and early 20s may enjoy a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. However, many doctors have cautioned that the results may have more to do with obesity than they do with breast size alone.

Researchers surveyed more than 92,000 women with an average age of 38, asking each of the participants to recall her bra size at the age of 20.

Women who recalled having a D cup or larger had about three times the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Women who reported wearing B cup and C cup bras also experienced a higher risk than women who wore an A cup, even after figuring in age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, eating habits, family history of diabetes, physical activity level and pregnancies.

The study’s lead investigator believes that the correlation has something to do with how breasts develop during puberty. Puberty is a period marked by raised insulin resistance. Just as breast development is both accelerated and more pronounced in obese girls, their levels of insulin resistance may be as well.

However, if that is the case, many experts question why they should abandon the tried-and-true methods of evaluating type 2 diabetes risk by calculating their BMIs and evaluating lifestyles.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Now, before you start to panic about your chest size, thinking your endowment spells doomsday ahead, let’s dig through this study a bit further to reveal what’s really being said about the underlying risk factors and causes of diabetes. Because even though they’re focusing on breast size as a new, potential indicator of diabetes, what they’re really saying is that diabetes is the result of a link between being overweight and developing insulin resistance.

Your breast tissue generally consists of less than 20 percent glandular tissue, with fat and connective tissues making up the rest. This is why obesity, or being overweight, will affect your cup size just as it will increase your girth in other areas.

Your fat tissue (adipose tissue) contains fat cells (adipocytes) that release an array of bioactive protein molecules called adipokines. Some of these are pro-inflammatory, and others control your insulin sensitivity, appetite and energy expenditure.

When dysfunction occurs in the fat tissue, it can generate a low-grade inflammation and insulin resistance, which, as this study spells out, is what is responsible for creating type 2 diabetes. The question that is raised by the authors of this study is, “why does fat tissue malfunction in obese people?”

your insulin surges, telling your body to create more fat cells to store it in

once your fat cells reach their maximum capacity, they end up becoming resistant to insulin, which in turn raises your blood sugar levels because your body has run out of places to put it

Raising your level of insulin – similar to simply screaming louder at someone who is deaf -- is not the answer in this case, but rather improving your insulin sensitivity – improving your body’s ability to sense the presence of insulin. Because the way you become insulin resistant is by over-use of insulin, much like sitting in a smelly room; after a while you can’t really smell the odor anymore.

Reducing your insulin levels – by reducing or eliminating sugar and carbohydrates from your diet – can be likened to walking out of that smelly room for awhile, so that when you come back in your sense of smell has been reinvigorated and you can discern the odors again and make the appropriate adjustments.

The appropriate adjustments in this case are done by your nutrient sensors. The sensor for carbohydrates, or glucose, is insulin, and the nutrient sensor for fat is leptin. Leptin, in essence, tells your body what, when, and how much fat to burn.

Additionally, when your insulin goes up, it tells cells to start reproducing, meaning create more fat cells, which in turn down-regulates maintenance and repair of damaged cells. Hence you end up with more fat, and cellular damage that is not being repaired.

Why Diabetic Drugs Only Make Your Problem Worse

Diabetic drugs such as Actos and Avandia are PPAR-gamma agonists. As such they activate PPAR-gamma receptors to induce a response. But what does PPAR-gamma do?

PPAR-gamma is a nuclear receptor designed to multiply fat cells. So, the way these drugs work to lower your blood sugar is simply by increasing your number of fat cells faster!

It’s like buying a bigger house just to be able to store more stuff, but it doesn’t fix the underlying problem: over-consumption, which in this case is consuming too much sugar.

Because once those fat cells become resistant to insulin you’re back to where you started – your sugars start rising again because your body has once again run our of storage space. The conventional answer is to up your dosages, creating a never-ending vicious cycle of deteriorating health.

How Do You Eliminate Your Diabetes Risk?

If you restrict the amount of sugar-forming foods you consume, your insulin and leptin levels will stay low and your weight will normalize. Dr. Ron Rosedale has given an excellent summary of this process, which goes much like this:

If you go on a low carbohydrate, and moderate protein – just enough to meet your absolute needs – and fill your hunger and fuel needs with healthy fat, you will restrict all three major nutrient sensors: mTOR for protein, insulin for carbohydrates, and leptin for fat, which will maximally improve the cellular maintenance and repair processes that are instrumental in allowing a much greater lifespan and improved health.

By the way, I just did a three hour interview withDr. Ron Rosedale that is available to all who are in the My Inner Circle. If you haven’t joined yet you really need to take advantage of this extraordinary package. It really is one of the best health values on the net.

For more in-depth information about how to control and eliminate type 2 diabetes, including my most recent article comparing the absurdities of weight loss surgery against lifestyle changes for diabetics, please review the related articles below.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

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